ONE VISION ONE VOICE: Changing the Child Welfare System for African Canadians

Download the research report

One Vision One Voice is a program led by the African Canadian community. It is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services through the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies and addresses the overrepresentation and experiences of disparities faced by African Canadians after coming into contact with the child welfare system.

On September 29th, 2016, through the guidance and leadership of the African Canadian community the One Vision One Voice project launched the Practice Framework, comprised of Part I, the Research Report, and Part II, the Race Equity Practices, at a one-day Symposium.

Listening to individuals throughout Ontario share stories about their past experiences with the child welfare system was an essential part of this project. The development of the two reports was the culmination of consultations and input from over 800 individuals and community organizations. We also heard the perspectives of service providers, advocates, educators, social workers, and others who had experiences with and the child welfare system.

Download the Race Equity Practices

The 11 Race Equity Practices outlined in the Practice Framework document, are the principles which will be used by child welfare staff across the province to improve outcomes for African Canadian children and families who come into contact with the child welfare system.

Examples of how work will change for CAS agencies include:

Accountability to the African Canadian community through the establishment of a African Canadian Provincial Advisory Council and 11 African Canadian Local Advisory Councils working with local Children’s Aid Societies across the province.

Placement of African Canadian children and youth with African Canadian kin and families (racial and cultural matching)

Working with CAS staff (from boards to front line staff) to conduct an organizational anti-black racism needs assessment and to create individualized implementation plans to ensure the 11 Race Equity Practices can be effectively implemented.

What are the Race Equity Practices?

It is the responsibility of the organization’s Board, Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer and senior management team to set the direction, specify organizational expectations, and allocate resources, lead conversations on anti-Black racism, spearhead anti-racism organizational change efforts, and engage the organization in courageous conversations if racial disproportionality and disparities are to be identified and addressed.

Collect and analyze data to measure racial disproportionality and disparities

Through the use of data, child welfare agencies are able to assess the extent of racial disproportionality and disparities, identify the underlying causes, as well as measure progress toward improving service outcomes.

Ongoing program evaluation and performance monitoring allows organizations to understand which programs, services, and practices are working, the impact they have on African Canadian children, youth and families, and where changes are needed to achieve desired outcomes.

When procuring services (e.g., group homes, outside paid resources, and mental health beds), each agency should include an assessment of the service provider’s ability to reflect and appropriately serve African Canadian children and youth in care and their complex needs.

As the first stage in the child welfare continuum, mandated referrers can contribute to the overrepresentation of African Canadians in the child welfare system. As such, it is important that child welfare agencies analyze referral data and provide critical feedback and additional training to referral organizations and professionals as needed.

African Canadian families involved with the child welfare system need to be informed of the complaints mechanisms available to them. Further, these mechanisms should be assessed to determine how well they serve the needs of and address the issues raised.

Within child welfare agencies, there is a need to ensure that African Canadian staff, and indeed all staff, are able to raise concerns as needed and advocate for changes to better serve African Canadians without fear of reprisal.

Ensure agency staff, volunteers, and caregivers are well-trained in anti-racism, with a focus on anti-Black racism, and that they receive daily supervision that supports the application of this knowledge to support better outcomes for African Canadian children, youth and families.

Ensure ongoing engagement of African Canadian parents and the local African Canadian community to support the work of the child welfare agency and the success of African Canadian children, youth and families.

Strengthen the ability of caregivers to support African Canadian children and youth.

Child welfare agencies can support positive outcomes for African Canadian children and youth in care by placing them with kin as the first option and African Canadian families as the second option, as well as by ensuring caregivers are well trained, supported, and able to support the development of a strong and positive racial identity and the maintenance of cultural connections.

Consultations with the African Canadian community found that once caught up in the system, many African Canadian families feel unsupported. To address this gap, the One Vision One Voice team has hired two Community Engagement Workers (CEWs).

The African Canadian Child Welfare Provincial Advisory Council (PAC) is a group made up of African Canadian community members tasked with providing recommendations and advice to the board, executive leadership and staff of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) on all child welfare matters affecting the African Canadian community in the province of Ontario.

For decades, African Canadian communities across the province have raised concerns about the overrepresentation of African Canadian children in care of Children’s Aid. African Canadian parents and families have also raised concerns about how they are treated by child welfare staff and the overall system.

Issues in Ontario reflect the issues raised by African Americans throughout the United States. Compared to their White counterparts, African Canadian children are:

More likely to be referred to a Children’s Aid Society by educators, police, and medical professionals

More likely to be removed from their homes

Less likely to be returned to their families

More likely to grow up in foster care without being adopted or finding another permanent home

The two key issues are:

Disproportionality: the over- or under-representation of certain groups (e.g., racial) in a public child welfare agency relative to the group’s proportion in the general population.

Disparity: when services to one segment of the community are allocated differently, such as an increased or decreased likelihood of entering or exiting the services system or care.

Race Matters in Child Welfare– This infographic summarizes some of the research into racial disproportionality and disparities in the child welfare system.

Who is included as an African Canadian?

The term “African Canadian” refers to all Canadians of African descent, regardless of where they were born, e.g. Canada, Jamaica, Nigeria, England, etc.

Why talk about the experience of African Canadians in child welfare?

The experience of African Canadians in the child welfare system is not the same as that of White and other racialized children and families.

Hearing directly from the community has helped to bring to the surface the experiences of African Canadian children and families with child welfare and has helped us to understand how child welfare services need to change to better serve this community.

What will the Race Equity Practices do?

The Race Equity Practices will support the various Children’s Aids Societies across Ontario to understand and better serve African Canadian children and families. It will be used to help reduce the over-representation of African Canadians in the child welfare system and ensure they have better outcomes when they do get involved with child welfare.

Race Matters in Child Welfare– This infographic summarizes some of the research into racial disproportionality and disparities in the child welfare system.

Download the research report

Download the Race Equity Practices

Download the Frameworks Summary

Download the Race Matters Infographic

Due to the diligence and advocacy of the African Canadian community, the overrepresentation of African Canadian families in the child welfare system, and the disparity and disproportionality in outcomes African Canadian families experience within the system, has become a priority

We are counting on the African Canadian community to continue to remain engaged, and continue to hold the child welfare system accountable to ensure One Vision One Voice’s Race Equity Practices are fully implement across the province.

The African Canadian community played and continue to play an invaluable role leading the One Vision One Voice work provincially.

Research

The research phase included:

Literature and best practice review

Community consultations across the province

Survey of CAS staff

Survey of CAS practices

Community Consultations

Almost 800 community members participated in consultation sessions. Sessions focused on discussing ways to make Ontario’s child welfare system more responsive to the needs of African Canadian children and families.

Sessions looked at the following questions: What are child welfare’s strengths? How does it impact African Canadian children, families, and communities? What recommendations do you have for changing the child welfare system to better serve African Canadians?

The Development of a Practice Framework

Based on the research, a Practice Framework was developed. The Practice Framework consisted of a full report and a Race Equity Practice document and was launched at a Symposium in September 2016.

Steering Committee

Phase I of the One Vision One Voice project was guided by a Steering Committee made up of people in the African Canadian community familiar with the issues. The Steering Committee provided direction for the project, including the community consultations, research, and the development of the Practice Framework.

Reference Group

A Reference Group comprised primarily of African Canadian employees of various Children’s Aid Societies was also established to help guide Phase I. This group provided input into the project and gave insights into the child welfare system and its impact on African Canadian children and families.

Project Manager – Kike Ojo

Kike Ojo is currently the Project Manager for the initiative, One Vision One Voice: Changing the Child Welfare System for African Canadians. Prior to her secondment to OACAS, Kike spent 9 years at Peel Children’s Aid Society as the Senior Manager of Diversity and Anti-Oppression. In her time at Peel CAS, Kike provided leadership to the agency on the strategy and implementation of the anti-oppression journey, successfully shifting the agency culture towards anti-oppressive practice. In 2010 under Kike’s leadership, the Board of Peel CAS was awarded the Maytree Foundation’s Diversity in Governance Award, and in 2011 staff surveyed said that the anti-oppression journey was the number one reason for their employment satisfaction. Prior to her child welfare career, Kike worked within multiple social service sectors, and within the community, in both the US and Canada. Kike’s community work earned her the Lincoln Alexander Award for extraordinary leadership in the elimination of racial discrimination in Ontario. Kike’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in International Justice and Human Rights from McMaster University, a Master of Arts in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Education, University of Toronto. Additionally, Kike is a certified alternative dispute resolution mediator.

A consultant was hired to conduct the community consultations and research, and prepare the strategy.

Turner Consulting Group is a leading equity, diversity and inclusion consultancy firm in the Toronto area. Tana Turner, Principal and Senior Consultant, has worked on a number of projects related to the African Canadian community, developed tools for racial equity analysis, and conducted equity assessments for various organizations.

We Welcome Your Ongoing Feedback

Join the Conversation Online

Join the conversation on social media through Twitter or Facebook by telling us how Ontario’s child welfare system can better serve the African Canadian population. Follow us @1Vision1VoiceCA. Use the hashtag: #1Vision1Voice.

OACAS is committed to making reasonable efforts to comply with the requirements of the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service set out under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA). Click here to access OACAS’ Customer Service Standards Policy & Procedure.